Fear and Loathing in Boca Over Budget Cuts

When President Barack Obama says he’s willing to take “significant heat” from Democrats who don’t want Social Security and Medicare cuts to be part of a debt deal, he doesn’t mean Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. He’s talking about guys like Mel Safra, 70, owner of Bagel Time in Miami Beach. “It’s very sad,” says Safra, who wanted to retire by now but puts in 12-hour days at his kosher bakery, “this idea that you can take away money from the elderly who’ve worked for 40 or 50 years.” Safra thinks Obama has mismanaged the budget in a way that has jeopardized retirement benefits—so much so that he’s thinking of voting Republican in 2012.

Everything is up for grabs in traditionally Democratic Miami Beach these days, as well as in other Sunbelt precincts where retirees and would-be retirees are nervously watching the debt ceiling negotiations in Washington. Party lines and entrenched positions are being crossed and dug up left and right. While Democrats such as Safra are considering pulling the other lever, some older Americans are asking whether it’s time to rethink Social Security and Medicare. Joan Schlossberg, a new retiree who lives just north of Boca Raton, isn’t happy about proposed reductions to the programs, but she says her bigger worry is what will be left of the entitlements for her progeny. “This affects our children and their children. Older parents—how can they plan on retiring?” she asks. The former public university staffer, a staunch Democrat, says she is willing to sacrifice to ensure future generations don’t lose out.